Biden's proposal to reimburse Ozempic and Wegovy for obesity raises questions about Trump
2024-11-27 09:38:10
TiranaPost
The Biden administration is proposing legislation that would require the US government to reimburse obesity drugs (such as Wegovy and Ozempic) for millions of Americans, creating a financial and political challenge for President-elect Donald Trump as he prepares to take office.
The Medicare insurance program is barred by law from paying for weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk A/S's Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Zepbound, although similar drugs for conditions such as diabetes are covered. The Biden plan relies on a new interpretation of the law, based on a new understanding of obesity as a disease.
"The medical consensus has evolved," Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a call with reporters. Obesity "is a serious condition that increases the risk of premature death and can lead to other serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes," she said.
According to White House estimates, the new rule will give about 3.4 million older Americans on Medicare and four million adults on Medicaid programs for the poor access to the wildly popular treatment. That would cut out-of-pocket costs by up to 95% for drugs that cost $1,000 a month, officials said.
The proposal still has to go through a formal process, so the incoming Trump administration — which has made reducing government spending a key goal — will have to finalize it. Meanwhile, Trump's top health pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has advocated healthy eating instead of drug treatment to tackle the nation's obesity and diabetes epidemics.
The change would increase Medicare costs by $25 billion over 10 years, while adding $11 billion to federal Medicaid costs and $4 billion to state costs, a CMS spokesman said.
Trump's team has not yet responded on the subject.
